Sprint Runs vs Exclusives on Paramilitary 2 knives

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sammyman

Joined
Dec 3, 2012
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New guy here. I have been spending way too much time trying to find a Paramilitary 2 knife. Way too much time. I stumbled across some sprint runs, and some exclusives. I didn't know the difference until I called Spyderco today. I was interested in the blue exclusive at bento box. However, Spyderco told me that they can make as many of those as they want. Sprint runs on the other hand are limited.

Can anyone shed more light on this for me? I'd rather have a sprint run if it is truly limited. The blue parmilitary 2 is cool, but if they can keep producing them at will, I'd rather not pay the premium for a unlimited knife like that (although the steel is very good).

I wound up breaking down and buying a black / satin one on Amazon (camo looked really good too, but black is more timeless I think), and I purchased a pre-order for the Earth Brown one from Knife Center.

Is the Earth Brown a limited run? Or is it another exclusive? I have also seen orange, red, and a dark green. Which are sprint runs, and which are exclusives? Which are the most collectible, or which ones are you trying to get?
 
Interesting! Thank you. Does that mean that there are no "sprint runs" for the Paramilitary 2 knife just yet? These all appear to be exclusive knives.
 
Going from memory:

CF/S90V was a $pint
Gray/20Cp was a sprint
Orange/S30V was a dealer exclusive
Blue/M390 was a dealer exclusive
Brown/S35VN was a sprint
Green/204P was/is/will be a distributor exclusive purchased by a single dealer
 
FYI, any red one you saw was a custom job. No official red PM2. Very few red knives have ever been made by Spyderco as red is usually designated for training knives.
 
i know the s90v and the 20cp paras were sprints. i think the rest were dealer exclusives.
 
^^^^^ That is what I was talking about, a custom dye job, great looking knife btw!
 
Spyderco is now saying the blue PM2 won't ship until January. Bento Box still says December. I got excited when I got an email from Bento Box today, but they were just verifying my address. I am pretty much resigned to the fact this isn't coming before Xmas.
 
So are sprints more desirable and collectible since they are truly limited? Exclusives can be produced over and over again.

I think this is the only thing keeping me from picking up a blue.
 
zImsKee, yea I was just going by there website as per what Cardiackid said.

sammyman
I would say sprints are more collectable since they are limited but as far as desirable goes I would say the best steel for what you want is the most desirable. If you're going to buy a knife and never use it and then try turn it around for a profit, by all means buy a Sprint that shows up in the forums. I don't know if there is a guarantee with an Earth Brown one going back to Knifecenter as I recently "bought" one from them and then cancelled it because it was holding up the rest of my order. If you plan on using the Para2 buy the Blue one as it's a great steel and get it from the BentoBox website and though it will take longer to get it at least won't be marked up like it is on the forums right now. In a couple months there are going to be a whole bunch of them on the forums and they won't be commanding as high of a price.
 
frc505 said:
So does this mean the blue M390 para2 will be around for awhile ?
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Bento Box has the exclusive right to build as many PM2's with that M390 blade with that blue color handle as they want. My guess is they will sell as many as they can right now and into the future as possible. I'm sure we will see many more of them after this batch sells out.
 
sammyman said:
So are sprints more desirable and collectible since they are truly limited? Exclusives can be produced over and over again.

I think this is the only thing keeping me from picking up a blue.
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May I ask why you care so much? Are you not going to use it? If you plan on using it and keeping it, forget exclusive vs. sprint and get what appeals to you. Me, I skipped the blue because it is $180, and I already have a blue knife. The green is $140, identical steel except made by Carpenter (which is an American company if you care), and I do not have a green knife yet. Don't read this as me jumping on you, I am not. At this point in time, you cannot get a 20CP or XHP except second-hand and $$, the S90V is worse, the 204P's have not shipped and are all spoken for, the browns are S35V which is basically the same as S30V, so unless brown just does it for you, I would skip that, so the blues are the only non S30V PM2's left. If you want any of these, I would jump on the blue now. Spyderco will probably do some more sprints/exclusives in the future, but no guarantee. If you are thinking about holding it and then re-selling it to make a buck, the blue will do that for you too, although I bet you use it if you buy it with that intent :D
 
Cardiackid said:
Spyderco is now saying the blue PM2 won't ship until January. Bento Box still says December. I got excited when I got an email from Bento Box today, but they were just verifying my address. I am pretty much resigned to the fact this isn't coming before Xmas.
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When did Spyderco say January?

I'm moving in January, I really, really hope that I don't have to contact Bento Box and ask them to change my shipping address at the last minute.
 
the browns are S35V which is basically the same as S30V, so unless brown just does it for you, I would skip that
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I happen to like the brown G10 on the S35V version and find it easier to sharpen and has a better finish than the S30V version. S35V is said to be tougher than S30V, but I can't vouch for that claim. The small cost difference between the two is worth it to me, although I agree the M390 Blue is the one to get.
 
That advice was pointed purely at him as he seems to be caught up on which ones will have more value later. I do not have the brown, but would consider it personally. Some people are thinking S35V might replace S30V as the go to steel, so if future value is considered I would skip the brown. I am more excited about the CTS-204P, they did that PM2 for $140, the same as the S35V version. I would much rather see that steel become the new go to steel. Put the plain old black scales with CTS-204P and sell it for ~$125 and the already legendary PM2 would be off the charts.
 
Makes sense nccole. My comments were from a user perspective, one that has more than enough S30V knifes. I share your excitement for CTS-204P and would much prefer it to the S35V and think the PM2 makes an excellent platform for a variety of premium steels.

I appreciate how Spyderco supports its dealers with these exclusives, but it is very frustrating for the end user with all the pre-order requirements and limited run Beanie Baby nonsense. I would be a much happier customer if I could buy a PM2 from a dealer in my choice of steel and scales.
 
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